Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $800.00 by Analysts at Guggenheim

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price cut by analysts at Guggenheim from $875.00 to $800.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Guggenheim’s target price indicates a potential upside of 23.33% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.8%

META stock opened at $648.69 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $641.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $704.34. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,555 shares of company stock valued at $25,869,502. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong consumer demand for Meta’s new Ray?Ban Display AI glasses supports upside for Reality Labs if Meta can scale production; the product is drawing “unprecedented” U.S. interest. Meta’s New AI Glasses See “Unprecedented Demand”: What to Know
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate governance/legal strength: Meta hired an experienced tech and government legal executive as chief legal officer, which may reduce regulatory/legal execution risk. Meta names Microsoft’s Mahoney as chief legal officer
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive: some analysts highlight Meta’s strong growth/profitability metrics (Rule of 40) and continued AI investment as reasons to be bullish longer term. Meta Platforms: Rule Of 40 Says Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta paused the international rollout of Ray?Ban Display glasses because U.S. demand and supply limits pushed back launches in the U.K., France, Italy and Canada — positive for U.S. sales concentration but delays international revenue contributions. Meta delays Ray-Ban Display glasses global rollout due to inventory limits, U.S. demand
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: China’s Commerce Ministry said it will assess and investigate Meta’s roughly $2–2.5B acquisition of Manus (a Singapore?based AI startup with Chinese roots) for compliance with export and security rules — this is the primary near?term negative catalyst. China to assess, investigate Meta’s acquisition of AI startup Manus
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Oliván disclosed a small sale (517 shares), which can be perceived negatively even though the stake remains large; markets sometimes view insider sales as a near?term signal. SEC filing: Javier Oliván sale

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.